Monday, June 13, 2016

Once a year the Athenians would meet and vote
on exiling someone. If a simple majority voted yes, then they
dispersed and reassembled two months later. They brought with them their
ostracon (a fragment of pottery), on which they had scratched the name
of the person they thought represented a threat. The man with the most
votes lost. He was exiled for 10 years, They not only voted people
into office, but they had a regular procedure for voting one person per
year out of office. It was an option which could be exercised but did
not have to be. The exile did not involve confiscation or any other
punitive measures.

Aristides was known for his probity, and often called Aristides the Just. On one occasion, a voter, who did not know him, came up
to him, and giving him his shard, asked him to write upon it the name
of Aristides. The latter asked if Aristides had wronged him. “No,” was
the reply, “and I do not even know him, but it irritates me to hear him
everywhere called the just.”